


Episode 12: Grand Canyon, Arizona

by DangersUntoldHardshipsUnnumbered



Series: The Canyon's Arms Are All We Know [12]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-12
Updated: 2019-06-12
Packaged: 2020-05-01 20:05:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19184677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DangersUntoldHardshipsUnnumbered/pseuds/DangersUntoldHardshipsUnnumbered
Summary: And so ends our tale.





	Episode 12: Grand Canyon, Arizona

Astra woke up in bed with starched white sheets, with an intravenous needle in her arm and artificial sunlight pouring in through a fake window.

Alex was at the foot of the bed, speaking with someone Astra presumed to be a nurse, “…and once you get the labs back, I’ll need to see them right away.I’m a little worried about her narvasol counts.”

She didn’t quite have the strength to speak yet, so she just lay there and listened to Alex, calmly wielding authority with the nurses who came in and out; demanding to know why there had been a delay on the ultrasound, why they hadn’t done blood work yet, patiently but irritably explaining that they didn’t need special needles because Astra wasn’t a powered Kryptonian.

After some time (she couldn’t quite tell how much), Astra spoke weakly.“Alex, please.”

Alex whirled, handed the clipboard back to the person standing in front of her, and rushed to Astra’s side. Her dark eyes were full of concern. “Hey, you’re awake.”

Astra nodded slightly. “Yes. And I want to thank you for looking after me.”

Alex took one of her hands. Astra didn’t notice until she felt Alex’s touch how cold her own hands were.

“But I don’t want you for your medical skills, or your soldiering. I just want you. Do you understand?”

Alex looked flabbergasted.

“I’m awake now. Let the doctors do their jobs. Just be with me. Can you do that?”

Alex flushed, but nodded. “Of course.” She brought Astra’s hand to her lips. “Of course. Whatever you need.” 

Astra understood. It was hard for Alex to stop doing what she was good at, hard for her to stop using it as an act of love when she defined so much of her value through it. “I just need you.”

Alex slid her chair closer to the bed and leaned forward.

“So,” Astra said slowly, still struggling to find all the words she wanted, “can you tell me where I really am? And who you really are? And everything that’s happening now?”

Alex chuckled. “Well, that’s a lot, but I’ll try.” She stroked Astra’s hair.“You’re at the Omaha base of the Department of Extranormal Operations. We’re a global organization that deals with extraterrestrial presences on Earth.And that mission varies a lot from one location to another. I do a lot of helping resident aliens find jobs, stay healthy, and that sort of thing. And occasionally, I have to help deal with a hostile situation. I have some military training and a doctoral degree in exobiology.

“Clark –Superman– has been on Earth for a while, and he brought Kara to our family when she arrived here because he… she was stuck for a long time in the Phantom Zone, years actually, and she was very traumatized when she came out. He needed a lot of help caring for her. It was really more than he could handle. So my family sort of adopted her.He helps a lot.But it’s really taken an entire family to support her the way she really needed.”

Astra’s heart broke. She remembered her sweet, vibrant little Kara who was so full of questions after she got home from a campaign. “Is she… is she alright now?”

Alex took a long time to figure out how to answer. “She’s… amazing.She’s got all kinds of amazing powers but she’s only just learning to control them. And it’s … I communicate well with her, because I’ve lived with her for a long time, but for people who don’t understand how she communicates, it can still be difficult.”

“How… how does she communicate?”

Alex thought for a moment. “It’s hard to explain. Sometimes you can tell what’s on her mind by seeing what she’s drawing. She’s a brilliant artist, you’ll see soon.And sometimes she quotes things that connect to an idea or emotion for her, but if you don’t know what she’s quoting, it can be hard to know exactly what she’s saying. But you have to understand, when she came out of that pod, she was so lost in her own mind, she wasn’t speaking at all. She’s gotten so much better.”

Astra squeezed Alex’s hand. “And what… what does this mean for us? For you and me?”

Alex sighed, laughing a little. “I have no idea. I’m still planning on spending every minute of my remaining vacation with you, and if it’s in a hospital bed, so be it.” 

“You aren’t bothered that she’s your sister, and I’m her aunt?”

Alex shrugged. “I don’t think so. You aren’t _my_ aunt.”She winked.“This’ll be our chance to get to know each other.”

Astra sighed. “Well, I was hoping to do some of that while wrapped around you, naked in a bed.”

Alex bit her lip. “Well then, you better hurry up and heal.”

“I’m working on it.”

 

********

 

The tests all came back with encouraging results.The arm was broken (the same arm she had broken when she got here), and she had a slight concussion which meant no driving for a while, but miraculously enough, although her ribs were bruised badly, down to the bone, she had no breaks.

Kal-El came to visit later that day, after he had escorted Kara home and gotten the Evel Knievel suit returned to the museum. Astra was pleased to see another Kryptonian, particularly one that wasn’t trying to kill her.He came into the room wearing the suit she had seen in the newspapers.

She smiled wanly. “Is that suit for my benefit?”

He grinned. “Actually, it’s just easier for me to get in and out of DEO locations when I’m dressed like this. But I also figured you wouldn’t mind seeing the little piece of home.”

They looked each other over for a moment. “You look like your mother,” she decided.

“I get that a lot,” he joked.

She smirked.

“I’m sorry I don’t remember you,” he said, pulling up a chair and sitting down next to the bed. Alex hovered in the doorway, trying to give them space but clearly wanting to make sure Astra was alright.

“Well, you only saw me once, and you were wearing a diaper at the time.” She reached up with her good arm and touched the crest on the chest of his suit. “I don’t intend to make myself a burden to you, Kal-El, but it’s very hard to be alone on this planet.I was missing the connection of home.”

She saw understanding cross Alex’s face as she said this. Alex hadn’t quite understood why, after their encounter, Astra had been driven to go look up Superman.

“Nobody calls me that,” he said awkwardly. “I’m used to being called Clark.”

Astra wrinkled her nose. “Clark? It will take some getting used to. Like so many other things.”

They talked for a while, about what Clark’s life was among the humans, who had raised him, what he believed about the duties that came with his abilities and the like. She was careful to talk around her history as a resident in the worst prison in the galaxy.After a little while, she began to tired, and Kal –Clark– excused himself.She was slightly exhausted. But she had family again.

 

*******

 

Astra sat on the back of Alex’s bike, holding on tight to her slender, strong body, enjoying the feel of her and the bike’s roar underneath her. She hadn’t really been in much condition to appreciate any of it the last time she’d been in that position.

They were heading back to California.The sky was open, the road was wide, and there was nothing between her and the world that was rolling past her, and nothing between her and the woman who was proving more and more to be her salvation.She understood the appeal of the motorcycle now.It felt more like freedom than anything she’d felt since she’d arrived here.

She had a cast on one arm and a few lumps on her head, but she felt better than she had in a long time. They rode all the way out to the Grand Canyon, in Northern Arizona, and Astra watched the clouds slip by in stretched-out shapes on the chrome fittings of the bike.

They stopped often and Alex took photographs of them together.They stood on cliffs and mountains and in front of large, peculiar statues and indecipherable neon signs and what was apparently the biggest ball of twine in Nevada. They were together. They were learning each other. And there was nothing but truth between them now.

They would see Kara when they got back to England. It had been a cause of some great consternation among friends and family that Kara had decided to take off to save Alex without telling anyone where she’d gone, and there’d certainly be no keeping her in the house if she was told that Alex was with her long-lost aunt.

It was a few days before Astra was ready to even think about sex again, and even then, she was doubtful. She was still sore and fragile.But Alex was gentle, and her fingers found their way down Astra’s body and stroked her to soft orgasms until, after the third, Astra couldn’t keep her eyes open. 

Maybe closeness didn’t cause love, but Alex was right. It wouldn’t happen without it.

 

*******

 

“We’re going to see a giant hole in the ground,” Astra repeated.

Alex laughed, and helped Astra off the bike. “It’s better than it sounds.”

Holding her hand, they walked the gravel path from the parking lot up to a place marked “Observation Point 1”.Scrub brush and bent-over desert pines spilled onto the path, softening their footsteps with dried needles and leaves that shed regularly. 

Skeptical but trusting, Astra followed her to the wooden railing and looked out over the edge, into a vast opening in the Earth, the faces of its walls striated red and brown and gold, layers formed by the slow violence of cosmic time.She held her breath, gazing it for a long time with a deep sense of humility. Humanity’s societies might be young, but the Earth itself had been here a long time.

“Do you want to go in?” Alex asked softly after a little while.

Astra nodded.

Alex rented a couple of burros, and they took the path, all the way down to the canyon floor, until all there was was canyon walls, the evidence of geological upheaval, and the sky, open, blue, cloudless. 

“This is time,” Alex said, sharing a canteen of water with her. The sun beat down on them, but they had sunblock smeared on their faces and shoulders.“This is literally sitting inside of millions of years, millions of species that have come and gone. None of this happened all at once, it was the work of so many events that happened in the right order, at the right times, to create this place.”

The wonder of it was not lost on Astra. It was as close to a temple as anything she’d been in since she left Argo City for the last time.

“This is the math that led to us, sitting here right now,” Astra mused.

Alex smiled. “Yes. It’s all we know.”

 

*******

 

Astra and Alex had a long discussion on the way back to England from the Grand Canyon about how to prepare Kara. Kara hadn’t perceived her aunt when she came to rescue Alex. She’d simply heard Alex muttering that she could use her, and she came, much to the displeasure of family and friends.She’d made the best choices she could with the information she had, and in the end it had all been fine. But it seemed that Kara, powered or not, was a little unpredictable, even if her heart was always in the right place.

When they pulled up the driveway, Astra was struck at how humble it would have been, compared to her old home on Krypton, and simultaneously, how palatial it was compared to what she’d had at any time in the last several years. 

“This is your home,” Astra whispered. The house was white shingled, the lawn a little scraggly, the oak tree out front a little worse for wear, with a tire swing hanging from a low, thick branch.

“Yeah,” Alex said.She got off the bike, and then helped Astra off.“Let’s go meet your niece. I think she’ll be really happy to see you.”

Alex led Astra up the front steps and through the screen door into the kitchen.A woman stood inside, washing dishes at the sink. Her hair was blonde, but streaked with grey, and she nodded to them as she came in.

“Mom,” Alex said shyly, “this is Astra. Astra, this is my mom, Dr. Eliza Danvers.”

Astra nodded respectfully.“Doctor Danvers.”

Alex’s mother smiled, seeming vaguely amused. “Just call me Eliza.”

Alex glanced around. “Where’s crazy pants?”

Eliza chuckled. “I made her go upstairs and listen to music.She kept telling me how far away you were. I had to do something to make her stop listening to you.”

Astra flushed. She could hear music thudding through the floor from upstairs.

“Kara!” Alex shouted.

Astra’s arms raised little goosebumps.She looked at the top of the crooked stairs, waiting.A moment later, she heard a few heavy, rapid footsteps, and then a blur of red fabric and blonde hair streaked down the stairs, bowled into Alex and the two of them went tumbling onto the floor.

“Whoa!” Alex yelled. “Hi there, crazy.”

Kara was beside herself. She jumped back up to her feet. “Alex went to Braavos!”

Alex nodded, laughing and picking herself up.“Yup. And Sloan Canyon, and Topeka, and Las Vegas, and a whole bunch of other places.”

“Kara went to Topeka,” Kara commented.

“Yeah, you sure did,” Alex chuckled. Astra did not miss the little sour look on Eliza’s face at that.

Alex glanced over at Astra and then looked back at Kara.

“Kara, do you remember your–”

But Kara was staring at Astra now. “Aunt Astra,” she whispered.Confusion crossed her face, then relief and joy. “Aunt Astra’s home!” she exclaimed, and threw her arms around Astra’s waist to embrace her. 

“Little One,” Astra sighed, and the memories of Kara as a small child flooded back.Unfortunately, Kara was a good deal stronger now than she was back then and Astra gave a little strangled squeal of pain.

“Hey, hey,” Alex said, squeezing Kara’s wrist, “your Aunt Astra got hurt, so you’ve gotta be gentle.Remember how Lucy showed you how to be gentle with Penny?”

Kara nodded and relaxed her grip.Astra sighed with relief. She gasped again as Kara unceremoniously scooped her up and began carrying her into the next room.

“Where is she taking me?” Astra called over her shoulder.

“Fixing,” Kara replied.

“Living room,” Alex answered, bounding after them.

Kara gently set Astra down on a brown plaid couch.She marched out of the room. “Where are you going, sweetie?” Alex called after her.

“Fixing,” Kara called back.She returned a few moments later with several ice packs, ace bandages,a box of band-aids, a bottle of Robitussin and a roll of clear packing tape.

Alex started laughing. “Thanks, champ, but maybe just the ice packs, okay?”

Kara poked at the cast on Astra’s arm, then inspected Alex’s wrist.“Traded?”

Alex snorted.“She thinks you and I traded. The last time she saw me, I had a bandage on my wrist.”

“Why?”

“I got drunk and fell off the roof.”

Astra laughed too. “I guess you’ll tell me that story later.”

“I guess I have to.It’s sorta the reason you and I ever met.”

 

 

*******

 

_Six Months Later_

Astra woke up.She never thought she’d ever sleep in such a soft bed again.Alex was next to her, stirring, realizing where she was, and having the appropriate response; nibbling on the side of Astra’s neck, mumbling something barely coherent but clearly designed to arouse her.She definitely picked out the words _“taste you”_ said with a great deal of sleepy sincerity.It didn’t take much more than that.

Smiling, rolled on top of Alex, sleepily kissing her jawline and sliding a hand in between them. Alex made a happy purring sound and mumbled, “Mm, love you.”

Astra had gotten used to hearing that. It no longer frightened her.

“Mm, love you more,” Astra mumbled back.

Alex’s body shuddered, the way it always did when she heard those words in bed. “No fair, you’re gonna make me come first.”

“It’s not a competition,” Astra scolded. “But I love you.”

Alex moaned.

There was nothing on this Earth like morning love.

When Alex had presented Astra with this ridiculous, gigantic Winnebago a couple of months ago, Astra tried to refuse it. It was too much, she had said. But Alex wasn’t hearing it. “Look. You park it right back there, on the property. And you can grow, right there on the property. No boxes. And it’s not a gift, because I know how you are, so you’re gonna have to pay rent, and you’re gonna have to help us with Kara. And you can’t say no, because … because I love you.”

Astra had been staying with the Danvers family that entire time, and her presence had been helping Kara so much, that the truth was, nobody wanted her to leave.“You don’t know how she’s opened up since you got here,” Eliza often said to her.

It was so worth it to them, that they didn’t even mind having Astra feigning propriety by sleeping on the couch.

Eliza Danvers had taken Astra aside one evening and said frankly, “I haven’t seen either of my girls this happy since I don’t know when.”

Astra smiled but said nothing.

“And I want you to know, if you and Alex are a couple, that’s fine with me. I’ve known she was gay for years, but she never wanted to say so, so I haven’t pushed her. But you’re clearly exactly what she needs and, as luck would have it, also what Kara needs. It’s been less stressful for all of us since you got here.”

So that was that.

Kal-El –Clark, she still had to remind herself– came often to help, and to spend time with her and hear stories about Krypton. He continued to help Kara train her powers. Kara eventually did get the performance suit that Alex had promised her and she was able to help Clark with certain kinds of rescues and disasters from time to time.

Alex went back to doing her radio show on the HAM radio in the basement. Astra finally found out what a HAM radio was. She’d lie on the couch downstairs and listen to her voice as she talked about love and what it was like to not be lonely any more, and what vulnerability was, and how you had to take the risk, and keep taking it, and if you found something real, you had to hang onto it for all it was worth, and maybe even throw yourself in the line of fire.

The stars were spinning, faster than the eye could see, but at this distance, they barely moved at all. The only time that mattered was this time. Here. Now.


End file.
